The Federal Budget and Entitlement Programs

Each year the President sends Congress a budget proposal, prepared by the Office of Management and Budget, for the federal fiscal year that starts on October 1. The proposal is only a request: under the Constitution, Congress controls federal spending. Congress can adopt a budget resolution that sets overall spending targets, and its appropriations committees write the regular appropriations bills that actually fund agencies for that year. Those bills must pass both chambers and be signed by the President (or passed over a veto) like any other law. If they are not finished by October 1, Congress can pass a temporary continuing resolution, and if it passes neither, funding lapses and part of the government shuts down. This yearly process covers only discretionary spending, such as defense, education, transportation, and scientific research. Mandatory spending, which is now the majority of federal spending, is set by existing laws and continues without a yearly vote. Most of it goes to entitlement programs, which pay benefits to everyone who meets the eligibility rules: Social Security (retirement, disability, and survivor benefits), Medicare (health insurance mainly for people 65 and older), and Medicaid (health coverage for many people with low incomes, run jointly with the states). Because entitlement spending grows automatically as more people qualify, changing it requires Congress to change the law itself, which makes these programs a frequent subject of debate about the federal budget.

This explanation is AI-generated and can occasionally be wrong. 🚩 Report